Drone Backup Controller for High-Speed Geofence Intervention
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current safety measures for high-speed aerial racing drones are inadequate, as they struggle with real-time safety interventions due to energy and computational constraints, and existing control barrier functions are not well-suited for high-speed motion, leading to a need for efficient safety intervention mechanisms that can operate at high speeds without compromising human control.
Innovation Solution
A backup controller system using implicit control barrier functions and a regulation function to smoothly switch between human control and safety controls, ensuring the drone stays within a safe space without getting stuck, allowing for high-speed operation and aggressive maneuvers while maintaining safety guarantees.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional control barrier functions are used for safety intervention, then safety guarantees are provided, but the system struggles with real-time safety interventions due to energy and computational constraints at high speeds
Solution Approach 1:
The control system is segmented into a primary controller handling normal operations and a backup controller specifically dedicated to safety interventions. This segmentation allows the backup controller to focus computational resources on safety-critical functions, enabling real-time safety guarantees without burdening the entire system with excessive computational requirements during high-speed operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The backup controller is pre-configured with safety intervention logic and remains in standby mode, ready to take over control immediately when safety violations are detected. This preliminary preparation eliminates the need for complex real-time decision-making during critical moments, allowing instantaneous safety responses that meet real-time requirements while maintaining energy efficiency.
2Reliability
If backup controller intervenes to prevent boundary violations, then safety is maintained, but human control freedom is compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The system continuously monitors the drone's state and provides feedback to the backup controller about proximity to safe set boundaries. This feedback mechanism allows the backup controller to intervene only when necessary, maintaining human control freedom during normal operation while ensuring safety is restored immediately when boundary violations are imminent, thus balancing safety with operational freedom.
Solution Approach 2:
The backup controller's level of intervention is dynamically adjusted based on the drone's proximity to safety boundaries. When the drone operates well within safe boundaries, the backup controller remains passive, allowing full human control freedom. As the drone approaches boundaries, the backup controller progressively increases intervention, taking over control only when necessary to prevent violations, thus dynamically balancing safety and human freedom.
Data Source
AI summary
Systems and methods for performing high-speed geofencing in accordance with various embodiments of the invention are disclosed. One embodiment includes a robotics platform including a set of one or more motors, at least one sensor, a controller comprising a set of one or more processors, and a memory containing a controller application and a backup controller application, wherein the controller application configures the set of processors to control the robotics platform by performing the steps of receiving user commands, generating commands controlling the set of one or more motors based on the received commands. The backup controller application configures the set of processors to monitor the controller and intervene as the commands received by the controller direct the robotics platform towards a boundary by performing the steps of defining a safe set identifying positions where the robotics platform is safe, defining an invariant safe set based upon a backup set, where the invariant safe set is a subset of the safe set, and the backup set is a subset of both the invariant safe set and the safe set, receiving commands controlling the set of one or more motors to track to a desired velocity, determining if the robotic platform is approaching, and upon a determination that the robotics platform is approaching a boundary of the invariant safe set, switching control of the motors from the received commands to a combination of the received commands and backup controls generated by the backup controller application.